Military

CBS News reports: The Biden administration is expected to repeal the ban on transgender Americans from serving in the military, multiple people informed of the decision told CBS News. The announcement is expected as soon as Monday, one senior Defense official and four outside advocates of repealing the ban told CBS News. The senior Defense official told CBS News the …

Salon reports: In his first run for Congress, Cotton leaned heavily on his military service, claiming to have been “a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan,” and, in a campaign ad, to have “volunteered to be an Army Ranger.” In reality, Cotton was never part of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the elite unit that plans and conducts joint special …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Nearly 200 members of the National Guard deployed to Washington in the days leading up to Wednesday’s presidential inauguration have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and some officials fear cramped rest and working quarters contributed to the spread, defense officials said. Approximately 26,000 Guard members from all 50 states, three territories and the District …

NPR reports: Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general, has been confirmed by the Senate, making him the first Black secretary of defense in U.S. history. The Senate approved President Biden’s nomination for Pentagon chief in a near-unanimous 93 to 2 vote. Austin’s nomination was approved despite concerns raised on both sides of the aisle that he hadn’t been out …

NBC News reports: President Joe Biden will soon reverse the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Wednesday. While the reversal was not one of the 15 actions the new administration announced it would take Wednesday, Day One of the Biden presidency, Psaki said it would be among …

The Associated Press reports: Two U.S. Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. A U.S. Army official and a senior U.S. intelligence official say the two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias. No plot against Biden was found. The Army official and …

Mediaite reports: “The most important briefcase in the world, carried by the military and never far from the President of the United States,” said CNN’s Barbara Starr, adding, “The case holds the highly classified equipment and authorities needed for our president to order the military to launch a nuclear weapon.” Because Trump is not attending the inauguration, where the briefcase …

Dallas’s CBS News affiliate reports: Gov. Greg Abbott is not happy the Department of Defense and FBI are vetting the more than 1,000 Texas National Guard members sent to Washington, DC to help secure the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden on Wednesday, Jan. 20. Gov. Abbott called the guard members, “disrespected,” and said he may never send them to DC …

Politico reports: The Pentagon has authorized hundreds of active-duty troops to support enhanced security measures related to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, as local law enforcement continues to track threats of violence in the nation’s capital in the days leading up to the ceremony, according to two defense officials. The 750 active-duty personnel deployed this week include service members with expertise …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the event. The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington following the …

From the military site Defense One: The roughly 25,000 National Guardsmen deployed to the U.S. capital to ensure President-elect Joe Biden is able to be sworn in peacefully went through an additional background check to weed out any whiff of domestic extremism. “For this deployment everybody is screened additionally, but it’s more of a reassurance, because we do everything we …

The military site Defense One reports: The Pentagon, in a break with tradition, will not host an Armed Forces Farewell tribute to President Donald Trump. It’s a shame, but not a surprise. Trump will leave office in disgrace, one week after the House voted a second time for his impeachment, two weeks after his supporters staged a deadly siege in …

The Washington Post reports: Another 5,000 members of the National Guard have been authorized to support Inauguration Day security in Washington, D.C., city officials said Wednesday, increasing the total to at least 20,000 in a rapidly swelling security apparatus focused on the Capitol. “I think you can except to see somewhere upwards beyond 20,000 members of the National Guard that …

The New York Post reports: An Army psychological warfare officer is being investigated for busing people more than 300 miles to attend the Trump rally that turned into deadly riots at the Capitol, Army officials have confirmed. Capt. Emily Rainey, 30, confirmed to the Associated Press that she led more than 100 people to Washington, DC, on Wednesday as part …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The National Guard will increase the number of troops in Washington, D.C., to at least 10,000 by Saturday to bolster security in advance of next week’s presidential inauguration, the Guard’s top officer said. Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, who is in charge of the National Guard Bureau, said in a press briefing Monday that the troop …

The Military Times reports: Troops from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and Virginia joined those from D.C. Leaving their homes and jobs, the Guard troops are here, three days after two Air Force veterans were killed and three others died in an attempted insurrection. They are here to help ensure it does not happen again. “I never thought I would see …

The Washington Post reports: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told her House colleagues Friday that she had spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, about keeping an “unstable president” from accessing the nuclear codes. “The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to …

The Washington Post reports: In memos issued Monday and Tuesday in response to a request from the D.C. mayor, the Pentagon prohibited the District’s guardsmen from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protesters unless necessary for self-defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement, or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary’s explicit sign-off, according to officials …

Politico reports: Lawmakers’ rebuke of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tank annual defense policy legislation last week has paved the way for a yearslong process to remove the names of Confederate leaders from military bases and scrub other monuments to the secession. But there are still unanswered questions about the nascent process, which must kick off by March, including who …

The Washington Post reports: The time to question election results has passed, and there is no role for the military in changing them, all of the living former defense secretaries said in an extraordinary rebuke to President Trump and other Republicans who are backing unfounded claims of widespread fraud at the ballot box. The former Pentagon chiefs issued their warning …